Well Amanda had the biggest challenge getting us to wake up in the first place, but a few coffees later the dogs where ready.. 

We started off with some ‘blasty’ bits, jump jump U tunnel jump jump, and lots of variations around it. We Spent a lot of time on body position, working close and far away from the dogs, ensuring you are doing to same thing regardless of how far away your dog is…. Very useful stuff.

I think a lot of people where shocked what their pups were doing to be honest, showing that you can and should be practicing harder exercises over the lower heights and getting it right before moving to full height and then training it. 

The highlight of the morning had to be Amanda explaining to a rather confused handler to “face the 'Pigg' on the wall” which happened to be the other end of the barn from Amanda! 

Then onto double-box work, and no messing around here by Amanda. We did an eight jump combo including a front cross, ‘steady’ command, and directionals straight off. To be fair the pups were ready for it and most lapped it up with no problem at all. Amanda then forcing us to tighten up some of the turns the second time round and explaining why we need to cross and certain places etc etc. Again the valuable lesson taken from this part of the training was ensuring tight turns and combos are strung together, and working correctly, before moving the jumps up. 

Time for another coffee. “the dogs need a rest”….. yeah right you are breathing out of your bottom and want to sit down for five!

So after the ‘blasty’ bits and some tight box work, we moved onto weaves….

Amanda used the channel weaves for this and the dogs loved it (or mine did anyway nearly taking Amanda through the channels with him!) We closed the channels slightly and then changed the entry angle a little. Amanda explained the different angles and how to use the guides on the channel weaves correctly. 

Finally contacts.

Amanda explained the importance of having drive to the bottom of the A-Frame as the most important thing. So if you use a toy at the bottom, target, running contacts, 2 on 2 off, 4 off, or any other combo, the key is the drive to get there. “This needs to an exciting place for the dog”. Main thing taken from the contact training was drive drive drive, and the dog wanting to be there….   Very good stuff. 

All in all a GREAT training sesh and perfectly suited for the age and level of the pups.

Author: Martyn Wright 7th August 2007